Now, patient, kin attack doctor at Thane civil hospital; cops missing

The fresh attack on doctors comes barely four days after resident doctors across the state withdrew their five-day 'leave', following a similar brutal attack on a doctor in Dhule civil hospital.Nishikant Karlikar | TNN | March 30, 2017, 08:52 IST

Thane: Doctors continue to be soft targets. A medical intern with the district civil hospital was thrashed and his colleagues and the nursing staff subjected to abuse and threats by a patient and a gang of 15 youths accompanying him, following an argument over administering intravenous fluid on Wednesday. The mob fled after the incident but police have reportedly detained two persons.

The fresh attack on doctors comes barely four days after resident doctors across the state withdrew their five-day 'leave', following a similar brutal attack on a doctor in Dhule civil hospital.

The casualty unit on the ground-floor of the hospital briefly turned into a war zone as the unruly mob kicked and punched Dr Javed Khan and vandalised the ward, even as the four police personnel, including one armed guard, reportedly deployed to deter any attack, went missing.

A shaken Dr Khan, who is being treated for a bleeding ear, said the provocation for the attack was his refusal to abide by the patient's advice on how to inject the IV fluid. "At around 3.30pm, Muzammil Memon aka Majju, a resident of Mahagiri area in Thane, rushed to the civil hospital's casualty ward with a severe cut on his hands. He got himself admitted without doing any paper work. Dr Khan and his colleague Dr Salman Khan were treating him and decided to administer the IV fluid. Memon insisted the IV be injected through his arm and not his forearm. Dr Khan politely asked him to lie down, saying they would do the needful, which infuriated the patient and he hurled invectives,'' said DCP Abhishek Trimukhi, quoting an eye-witness.

Dr Khan told TOI there was no provocation at all and he had merely requested the patient to cooperate. "However, his friends and relatives too joined in and started aggressively asking the doctors to abide by his advice. Just then, Memon who was lying on the bed, kicked me in my chest and his associates too started punching and slapping me till I was bleeding below the neck. The attack lasted for nearly 10 minutes, during which other hospital staffers tried to pacify the mob but they refused to listen," he said.

Civil surgeon Dr Kempi Patil told TOI that Dr Khan had been admitted to the hospital for a neck injury and was under observation.

Another eye-witness told TOI another doctor was also attacked and manhandled. "The patient held on to his injured hand and was on a vandalizing spree, pushing, heckling and abusing other doctors and even threatening them with dire consequences," said a female intern who did not wished to be named. While leaving the hospital, the mob even broke the window panes and pushed other doctors, said another eye-witness. The relative of a patient in the same ward said, "I heard the loud argument. They were shouting and yelling at the others, they went out and broke the doors, pulled down medicine trays and even threw away the stretcher." "I was so frightened that I hid in a nearby toilet. For a couple of minutes the police were nowhere to be seen," said another patient's relative. Staff too said no security guards or policemen were present at the time of the incident.

Makarand Ranade, additional CP crime (Thane), said, "We have secured CCTV footage from the hospital authorities and the accused have been identified. We have learnt the accused are from a specific part of Thane. An enquiry has also been launched against the policemen who were absent from the spot." Two people have been detained. A case has been registered at Thane Nagar police station under IPC sections 143, 147, 149, 323, 332, 353, 504, 506 besides sections of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners' Act, which is non-bailable, said Trimukhi.